When
a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group
of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the
horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine. "Blindness,"
starring Academy Award®-nominee Julianne Moore, Gael García
Bernal, Mark Ruffalo, Sandra Oh and Danny Glover, is a psychological
thriller about the fragility of mankind. Adapted from Nobel
Laureate José Saramago's masterwork, the film is directed
by Academy Award®-nominee Fernando Meirelles ("City
of God") from a screenplay by Tony Award-winner Don McKellar
("The Drowsy Chaperone").
Movie Review:

At one point in the film, someone remarked that they should
be thankful for a leader with vision, and while literal in
meaning, it packs quite a powerful punch that having someone
at the helm of society making decisions for the masses, he/she
better get it right with little room to maneuver out of mistakes
made. Amongst the land of the blind, having the ability to
see is a tremendous asset, but also a massive liability in
having to witness first hand through interpreted images from
the retina, the harsh cruelties and evilness that man is capable
of under circumstances of total anarchy.

Based on a novel by Jose Saramango, Blindness makes for a
fascination study on man's propensity for evil, regardless
of whether we have evolved or infected in a way to lose one
of our primary senses. One thing's for sure is that we'll
continue to adapt to new surroundings and situations, and
in the struggle for survival comes the questioning and compromise
of morals and values, the sacrifice of self for the greater
collective good.

From the onset, the mysterious phenomenon strikes, where a
Japanese motorist stops his car in traffic, and declares himself
blind. Like the catalyst or the seed carrier of what could
be a disease, soon after everyone else whom had come into
contact with him, suffered from the same lack of vision, where
unlike conventional blindness, the victims "see" all white,
as if some bright lights had been turned on and perpetually
shining into the eye. Such is the explanation and treatment
of Blindness, that it doesn't offer you any background nor
solution to this disastrous affliction to mankind, and it
be best if you left it as such and not try to contemplate
any possible reason, because it just is, similar to M Night
Shyamalan's The Happening.

However, the movie's more of an examination of the worst of
man in situations where some with added advantage over others,
would choose to use their new found advantage for good, or
evil. Given the paranoia gripping the city, all infected humans
get quarantined into camps, and it is within one such camp
that the movie spends the bulk of its time within. Mark Ruffalo
plays a doctor suffering from the disease who try to maintain
some sense of order, given the insights from his wife, played
by Julianne Moore, who's the only one whose eyesight is not
affected. Don't bother about figuring out why the immunity
though.

In true survivor fashion, we see how alliances are formed,
ranks are broken, and in some ways, there are avenues ripe
for an action thriller, but that didn't get exploited because
of the clinging onto the hopes that everyone would wake up
to basic human decency. Besides, Julianne Moore and Alice
Braga are no strangers to hard hitting movies, especially
when the former was at one point, Clarice Starling who went
up against Hannibal the Cannibal. But to compensate for the
lack of "action", there are some genuinely disturbing scenarios
that the characters get put through, and in these moments
you're likely to feel disgusted, while at the same time ponder
whether you would condone decisions and actions such as these,
if it was you who was put in the same spot.

Director Fernando Meirelles had presented similarly powerful
and impactive stories in earlier films such as City of God
and The Constant Gardener, but in this one he puts the audience
in the driver's seats, having to suffer the lack of vision
through the constant fade to black or white, depending on
which point of view adopted. However, while well-meaning to
force a more careful attention paid to ambient sound, it does
get repetitive and tiring at times since it's more of the
same old one-trick that get consistently flogged.

The opening film of this year's Cannes Film Festival, I guess
that tidbit alone would attract crowds to the cinema halls
to check out what the fuss is about, also since there were
groups which were up in arms against the movie. Just like
how Flightplan cast some negative light onto cabin crews,
it's not difficult to empathize why this would have done the
same to the visually challenged, because of some rotten egg
character that some would have taken offense at.Movie
Rating: